EVOLUTION | GIST 2016

Welcome!

The objective of this course is to use broad brush
strokes to paint a picture of modern thinking on
evolution, both of living organisms and the planet they
inhabit. The first part of the course will take a
decidedly historical and naturalistic perspective,
focusing on the timeline of evolution (based on the
geological record of fossils and geochemical
signatures) and how the natural history of both the
inanimate and animate worlds in the hands of Darwin and
Wallace (and their distinguished predecessors) led to
the articulation of the tenets of evolution by natural
selection as well as a picture of a dynamic Earth. This
will be followed by an examination of the emergence of
modern genetics which gave us a molecular picture of
variation. Next, we will undertake a study of the
forces of evolution such as selection, drift, migration
and mutation and how population genetics provides a
quantitative framework for examining the interplay
between these forces. With these preliminaries in hand,
we will then turn to a variety of case studies in
evolution that illustrate the principles of the subject
with some of the remarkable studies that have been made
to test these ideas. We will close with a discussion of
the great human experiment in which human activities
have rewritten the story of evolution.

Where and When?

Dates

The course takes place from January 11 to January 21.

Lectures

Lectures will take place at College C.110 from 9:00 to 12:30.

Lab

Laboratory sessions will take place every night at College B.416 from 19:00 to 22:00.

Office Hours

TA office hours will take place at College A.402 from 14:00 to 15:30.
Feel free to stop by with questions about the assignments or about the class (or even just to say hi!).

Instructor's office

Proffesor Phillips (a.k.a. Rob) will have his office at College A.406.

Announcements

Jan. 1, 2016

Before the start of the course, please read the three Matlab tutorials found on the
Matlab tutorials page: Matlab Introduction, Odes and Stochastics with Matlab,
and Image Analysis with Matlab.